Dolly



' v A. B. CASTLE 2,855,211

DOLLY Filed March 22, 1956 INVENTOR A. B. CA STL E ATTORNEY were Un ted S e P c 'Ofii e DOLLY Alfred B. Castle, Brookmont, Md. Application March 22, 1956, Serial No. 573,131 3 Claims. (Cl. 28047.32)

The present invention relates to moving heavy structures and more particularly to moving equipment including single wheel dollies for application to a heavy structure to take a major portion of the weight leaving a controllable minimum of unsupported weight to be directly overcome by one person for control of the heavy structure during the moving.

Heretofore the moving of heavy structures such as filing cabinets, safes, heavy crates and the like has presented a problem even with the use of carts, hand trucks, dollies, or other moving equipment and devices and the moving of a single piece of equipment such as a safe filing cabinet has involved excessive expense and there has been great danger of persons being injured by such equipment or heavy structures falling off the carts, hand trucks, dollies, or other moving equipment. Also the heavy structures frequently have had to be tipped over or to be tipped at an awkward angle different from the normal position of use to permit existing moving equipment to be used. In moving tall filing cabinets the drawers usually have to be removed so that the cabinet may be tipped over on its back or side on a cart to lower its center of gravity and when such filing cabinet carries confidential information extremely close supervision by trusted employees is required to assure that nothing is lost or stolen during the move.

An object of the present invention is to provide moving equipment which will overcome the difliculties enumerated above, which can be easily and economically manufactured, and which can be used by relatively unskilled persons for safely moving a heavy structure without danger of injury to persons or damage to the structure being moved or damage to objects which might be in the path of the structure. I

Another object is to provide a dolly which may be used without requiring the exertion of great physical force and usable by persons who are not regularly in the'b'usiness of moving heavy articles.

A further object is to provide a dolly which can be stored in a minimum of space when not in use and is instantly available for use without requiring additional equipment, devices or personnel for moving heavy structures.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent as the description proceeds and upon reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. l is a front elevation of a filing cabinet supported for moving by a pair of dollies according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the filing cabinet showing the approximate position of the dollies relative to the center of gravity and the length of the cabinet being moved so the cabinet continually rests on the end being pushed by a workman as well as the dollies;

Fig. 3 is an isometric view on an enlarged scale of one dolly with a part broken away showing the prongs which bite into the bottom of the cabinet;'

Patented Oct. 7, 1958 Fig. 4 is an enlarged full scale section taken substantially on line 4-4 of Figs. 2 and 3 showing how a cabinet is positioned on the dollies and how the dollies are retained in position by the weight of the cabinet;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary section of a fragment of the angle bar of a dolly showing a modified form :of prong for biting into the bottom of a structure to be moved.

Briefly the present invention relates to dolly structure particularly useful in pairs for moving heavy structures, each dolly including an elongated ,angle bar member having one flange upstanding and the other flange extending laterally and with a sharp prong adjacent each end and intermediate the edges of the said other flange and each prong projecting toward the said one flange. A stub shaft projects laterally transversely from the said one flange in a direction opposite said other flange and has its axis converging toward the surface on which the dolly is supported. A floor engaging wheel is rotatably mounted by means of anti-friction bearing means on said shaft for supporting the dolly for movement along the floor.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, a heavy filing cabinet 9 is supported on a pair of dollies 10, 10 on opposite sides located approximately midway of the length of the cabinet and approximately under the center of gravity but nearer the back of the cabinet so the front of the cabinet rests on and is supported by the floor 21. Each dolly 10 comprises a generally horizontally disposed elongated angle bar having one flange 12 extending upwardly and to the upper edge on the inner surface of such flange 12 a round rod 13 is fixed by welding or the like to the inner surface of the upper edge portion of flange 13. On the other flange 14 adjacent each of its ends and intermediate its edges in tapped bores receive set screws 15, 16 with the biting tip of each set screw projecting inwardly and converging toward the said one flange 12 so that the biting tip ends will bite into a bottom wall 17 of the filing cabinet 9.

A stub shaft 18 positioned substantially midway of the length of flange 12 and intermediate the edges thereof projects from the outer surface thereof and is fixed by welding 19 or the like to the flange 12 so the axis of shaft 18 extends at an obtuse angle to an imaginary right angle formed by the bottom 17 of the cabinet and an adjacent side wall 20 of the cabinet whereby the stub shaft 18 projects and converges toward a supporting surface 21 such as a floor over which the cabinet 9 is being moved. The imaginary right angle is defined by the free edge of said other flange 14, the biting tips of the set screws 15 and 16, the inner surface of said one flange 12, and the inner surface of the round rod 13, the legs of the right angle corresponding to the bottom 17 and the adjacent side 20 of the cabinet 9.

An anti-friction bearing including an inner race 22 mounted on the shaft 18 and abutting a shoulder 23 on shaft 18, ball bearings 24 and an outer race 25 rotatably supports a wheel 26 having a bore 27 tightly receiving the outer race 25, said bore 27 terminating in a shoulder 28 which takes the axial thrust of the wheel 26 caused by the inclination of axle 18 and through the anti-friction bearing transfers such axial thrust to the shoulder 23 and to the flange 12 of the dolly and thereby to the cabinet 9 being moved. The wheel 26 is retained on the stub shaft 18 by means of a washer 29 fixed to the shaft 18 by means of a cap screw 30 or the like threaded into the end of the shaft, the washer 29 cooperating with an annular flange 31 to retain the Wheel 26 on the shaft, the washer 29 being prevented from rotation by a pin 29A extending into the axle 18 and washer 29. Other means may be provided such as a keyway to prevent rotation of the washer 29 so that rotation of the wheel cannot cause loosening of the cap screw. It will be observed that stub shaft 18 projects beyond the outer surface of flange 31 so that normally washer 29 does not contact the flange. It will be noted that the wheel 26 is rounded at 32 transversely of its tread adjacent its inner side and is tapered from the rounded portion toward its outer side as shown at 33 so that a relatively small area Of the wheel contacts the floor or other supporting surface closely adjacent the cabinet reducing the tendency of the dolly to move outwardly from the cabinet so that the force urging the dolly outwardly is kept to a minimum even though the major portion of the wheel 26 is located outwardly of the side wall 20 of the cabinet. It will also be noted that the outer edge 33A of the wheel 26 is also rounded for a purpose hereinafter described. The set screws 15 and 16 by biting into the bottom 17 of the cabinet resist the tendency of the dolly to be drawn outfrom under the cabinet.

To facilitate handling the dolly, a U.-shaped handle 34 is fixed to the upper edge of the said one flange .12 so that it lies in a plane in angular relation to the flange and overlies the wheel 26 being within the projected outline of the outer surface of the wheel whereby the lateral extension of the dolly outwardly of the side wall 20 of the cabinet is kept to a minimum to permit use in limited space.

In Figure 5 a pointed set screw 35 is shown which may be used instead of cup-shaped set screws and 16. For some applications such as where the cabinet is of wood a larger number of prongs or set screws may be used as the Wood will give more readily than metal and since wood is weaker, it may be necessary to have more points of contact.

One manner of using the dollies is to position a dolly on one side of a cabinet 9 with the edge of flange 14 abutting the cabinet and either by pushing upper portion of wall of the cabinet or by using a pinch bar a person raises the adjacent edge of the bottom 17 oh the floor and while such edge of the cabinet is raised the dolly is shoved under the cabinet by a foot or a hand until flange 12 contacts the lower corner of the cabinet between bottom 17 and side 20 and with the free edge of flange 14 engaging the bottom 17. With the dolly held in such position the cabinet is allowed to be lowered causing the dolly to assume the position shown in Figures 1, 2 and 4 in which position the dolly supports one side of the cabinet. A dolly may be applied similarly to the other side of the cabinet so that the dollies are preferably opposite each other and approximately under the center of gravity but 'to'the rear thereof whereby the dollies carry the major portion of the weight of the cabinet although some weight of the cabinet at the front is supported directly on the floor. One person takes hold of the cabinet adjacent the front end thereof resting on the supporting surface and by means of handles 36 and with little effort can wheel the cabinet in the manner of maneuvering a cart and if the person releases his hold of the cabinet such end dropsto the supporting surface against which it acts as a brake thereby avoiding any possibility of a runaway. A person may also move the cabinet by pushing on the top as by leaning against the top with his shoulder while guiding the cabinet with a handle 36 and thereby move the cabinet allowing the front end to slide on the floor. Since the cabinet is raised such a little heightabout a half inch-oif the supporting surface there is practically no danger of a person getting his foot under the cabinet and even though the toes might come under the cabinet the amount of unsupported weight is so small that there is no danger of injury. Under some conditions when using the dollies over relatively rough pavement some bouncing may occur which momentarily appears to take the weight off the prongs 15 and 16 and the dolly may come loose from the cabinet, but the dolly can be easily reapplied and the fall is so small that the little jar cannot damage the structure being moved. The

4 flange 14 remaining under the cabinet reduces any fall and simplifies the reapplication of the dolly.

The shape of the wheels is particularly advantageous as the rounded contour permits a cabinet supported on the dollies to be slid over the floor laterally of the direction of rotation by sliding the wheels on the floor and the dollies have remained in position during such sliding. One person has been able to move a structure weighing over 3460 pounds with a pair of dollies made according to the present invention.

A single dolly may be used for supporting a heavy structure such as a box or crate by arranging the box with one dihedral angle edge downwardly and resting in the angle of the angle bar and the outer edge 33A of the wheel 26 on the floor directly below the corner of the box. Although the box will be supported at only one point the major portion of the weight may be supported thereon in a manner similar to a wheel barrow and the person can control the moving of the box with much less effort than would be possible in manually carrying all .of the weight.

The dollies when used as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 work very advantageously to move the heavy object over an obstruction such as a threshhold or over a depression such as a hole in the floor or other supporting surface. When a dolly comes to the obstruction and the wheel cannot ride over such obstruction the dolly may be removed from its position by raising the cabinet with a pivot bar or otherwise and repositioning the dolly beyond the obstruction and then continuing the moving of the wbinetnntilanother obstruction is encountered or until the cabinet is in its final position.

To avoid damage .to the supporting surface and/or to the cabinet being moved the corners, edges and ends of the angle bar and round rod are rounded thereby avoiding scratching-or gouging.

It will be apparent that changes may be made within the spirit of the invention from the specific embodiments shown within the scope of the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A dolly for supporting heavy structures for move mentzover a supporting surface comprising an elongated angle member arranged with one flange extending upwardly and theother flange extending'horizontally, means on the free upper-edge of said one flange spaced inwardly of the inner surface of said one flange to contact one surface, of the heavy structure to be moved, object biting means adjacent each end of thecther flange intermediate its edges, each biting means having its biting tip end projecting inwardly of the inner surface of said other flange and toward said one flange, a stub shaft projecting from the outer surface of said one flange intermediate the ends thereof, a wheel on said stub shaft, and means to retain said wheel on said stub shaft, said wheel having its periphery tapered away from said one flange and rounded adjacent said one flange.

2. The invention according to claim 1 in which antifriction bearing means are provided between said wheel and stub shaft.

3. The invention according to claim 1 in which a handle is provided on the free edge of said one flange within the projected axial dimension of said wheel whereby said dolly may be easily handled without requiring additional space.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 477,472 Thompson June 21, 1892 722,569 Dilger Mar. 10, 1903 1,388,721 Keeping Aug. 23, 1921 1,975,661 Powell Oct. 2, 1934 2,696,990 Davis Dec. 14, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 40,713 Switzerland Aug. 27, 1907 

